It was reported on Tuesday that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ruled on Imran Khan’s intra-court appeal regarding his jail trial in the cipher case. This overturned the notification that was sent out on August 29.
The ruling, which had been put off earlier in the day, was made by a division bench of the IHC made up of Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Suman Rifat Imtiaz.
According to the decision, there may be times when a jail trial is necessary. This type of trial can happen in public or behind closed doors.
It also said that the notice for the jail trial would not apply to the past after November 13, when it was approved by the federal cabinet.
In the cypher case, Imran, who was prime minister at the time, waved a document around at a public gathering in March of last year, saying it was proof of a foreign plot to get rid of him from office. A few weeks later, the move passed, and Imran’s government was over.
Today, at the meeting, Salman Akram Raja, Imran’s lawyer, made his case. In line with court rules, he said that a trial could not happen in jail without the permission of a judge.
He also said that once permission is given, the judge tells the right minister. Imran’s lawyer also said that the reason for Imran’s jail trial wasn’t made clear in earlier papers.
Raja said that the process that was used for that was not full.
The bench asked the lawyer if the government’s order for a jail trial was made to follow the law. The lawyer said no, saying that the cabinet’s approval came without a court order.
After making all of his points, the lawyer said that all of the notices sent out for the jail hearing were not legal.
Mansoor Awan, the attorney general of Pakistan, then spoke. He said that regular people were not allowed to be in a jail hearing, but Imran’s family was allowed to be there.
The AGP also said that the hearing was only possible because it was being held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
After the AGP’s points were over, the bench didn’t decide what to do. Justice Aurangzeb said that first a short order would be given, and then a detailed order.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) merged Imran’s other petitions earlier in October. They wanted to throw out the case and stop his trial by the special court set up under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
The head of the PTI made another request to the IHC for a relief under Article 248. In the petition, it was said that the code case did not fall under Section 5 of the OSA.
After sending a warning to the FIA, the court wants to hear back from them today. The court also put Imran’s other arguments against the case with the motion.
Imran also sent a separate petition to the IHC, which was against the FIA’s request to hold the case hearings in the jail. But last week, the high court threw out the plea because it thought that an in-camera trial would be in favor of the PTI chief. It told him to talk to the trial court about the case.
